Another attempt at mixing fitness and tabletop RPGs [Beta Test phase]

[DarK_RaideR]

A brobarian, a druid, a ranger and an assassin walk into a bar…

 

Welcome. This thread is here to facilitate an idea I've had, test how it works and see how it can be tweaked to function properly. It is loosely based on an adaptation of Dungeon World, a wonderful tabletop RPG I suggest you check out and it is not meant to infringe any copyrights, merely be inspired by it. Much like a Dungeon Master, I am here to tell you the story of four heroes. Well, most of it, anyway. You’re the ones who will fill in the blanks and decide the heroes’ actions during key events, according to the instructions provided every week. Not much is predetermined and you are encouraged to contribute by tossing ideas or descriptions to be integrated into the story. This also means that we are free to take things anywhere on the epic-silly spectrum, so go crazy and don’t hold back!

 

 

Now, as I was saying, our four heroes walk into a bar. In typical medieval fantasy fashion, it is not long before a bar fight breaks out and they find themselves in the middle of it…

 

Instructions:

1. Use the spreadsheet to log your activities for this week. For every exercise involving weights (bar-, dumb- or kettle-bell variety) log 1 brobarian point per rep as things in the bar get smashed with excessive force. For every minute spent doing yoga, log 1 druid point as the body twists and bends to transform into a fearsome animal. For every exercise involving your bodyweight, log 1 assassin point per rep. For any other fitness activities, log a ranger point per rep or minute, whatever feels more appropriate. Let’s see who’s on the spotlight of the scene!

2. Take the surveys to give us some basic info on the brobarian, the druid, the ranger and the assassin

3. Make a post here suggesting how and why the bar brawl broke out. Did someone challenge the heroes? Maybe the brobarian was looking for a fight. What if the heroes are members of a secret rebel group known as Nerd Fitness bent on bringing down the Empire and there’s a price on their heads, maybe a bounty hunter happened to be around or Imperial Troops burst in to arrest them. Whatever you can come up with, no matter how crazy, share it and it might shape how the story evolves

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Let's set a time limit for this first round, say to the end of the current challenge this Sunday.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

I assuming these points are retroactive, so I'm including everything from Monday on. If that's not what was intended I'll go back and recalculate.

 

Our party finds themselves sitting at a table not far from the bar enjoying their drinks of choice. The ranger is enjoying a seasonal pumpkin ale, the assassin is furtively sipping from something he ordered with a whisper so no one else would know what it was, the druid is breathing in the boquet of her unicorn tears and rainbow cocktail, and the brobarian is currently fighting to keep whatever it is he ordered from climbing out of the sides of the specially ordered tankard designed specifically to hold this concoction that is basically what happens when whiskey and rum have a baby and that baby goes off to basic training then comes home.

 

Pretty soon a family of strangely dressed people with funny accents comes in and stands around looking. "Why is no one fighting?" the little boy asks his father. "I don't know son, let me ask someone." The gentleman taps someone on the shoulder and startles them. That person jumps, flinging his drink behind him. Someone behind that guy gets angry, and turns around to punch the poor soul who just lost his drink. However, a third party wanders into the path of the fist, falls backward disturbing someone else, who then spills his drink on the Brobarian. He turns to swing a fist, bumping his drink into the druid's unicorn tears cocktail, which causes a small explosion. At that point everyone else starts fighting just to get into the spirit of things.

 

"Thank you daddy," says the little boy.

[DarK_RaideR]

I assuming these points are retroactive, so I'm including everything from Monday on. If that's not what was intended I'll go back and recalculate.

Nothing is set in stone, it's a beta test! But yeah, assuming if we start counting from now there's mainly the weekend ahead and most people workout during the week, let's start counting from Monday.

 

This already brings up a few more issues. First off, the way I've set up the forms (derp) you can't really see what others picked, so it's unlikely the same name will get more than one vote, unless it's by chance or discussed over this thread. Noted for future forms, for now I'll pick names from the ones you people submit.

 

And that brings us to the matter of creative control. My original idea was to pick someone's narrative or try to combine as many as I can, but it feels like too much control. Don't want to appear like I'm favoring someone's version and rejecting the others, plus sometimes it's hard to combine things (also this version means a lot more work for me). So how about we try something else: everything people post is canon and happens/exists indeed, as long as it makes sense and doesn't go to far. Yeah, let's roll with that. Feel free to expand on Tank's story if you want, as long as it doesn't go beyond describing the outcome of the fight. I'll get to that by the end of the week and move the story forward.

[Wild Wolf]

Schaaaaweeeet!

 

(I think I like the green, Tank)

 

Drinks were spilled and tensions were high, but the fun had just begun. The Brobarian ignores the small explosion and proceeds to introduce his meaty fist into the first guy he saw. The sound of bones cracking as he connected to a random person put a smile on the big mans face. With fiery laughter, he turned to his companions and yelled, "Well c'mon you bunch of panzies! Hit someone!" As the Brobarian finished, he hopped on the nearest table releasing a boisterous war cry and dove into a group of would be brawlers.

 

The Druid, now angry, cries out, "Unicorn Tears aren't cheap!" With fluid grace, she transforms into a large cat, roughly the size of a tiger but purple with lynx like ears. There would be no purring from this kitty. Fangs bared and claws out, she was prone to attack. The Ranger, finally looking up from his pumpkin ale, surveying the scene of madness, and took another sip. He stroked the back of the now transformed druid, like a master of animals, and whispered something in her ear. She took off, weaving in and out of the crowd, clawing and biting when called upon.

 

The Ranger stood up, cracking his neck left and right. His hair was long and his beard longer, so he went to tie up his hair and casually took off his jacket. A would be fighter bumped into him, spilling him onto the table and knocking over his mug. With lightning speed, the Ranger flipped the man over onto the table, breaking it as he slammed the man down. He stood up, brushed off his chest and smiled wildly. "Save some for me Brobarian!"

 

All the while, the assassin sits at the bar area, watching as the ruckus unfolds, being as silent and sneaky as ever. She looked bored..

 

Ok, so I went ahead and did the whole "he/she" but you can change this to whatever. I was just going with how I voted for the characters

 

Wolf

[Raxie]

Ahhhhhh so excite.  Off to a meeting right now but will add to this later tonight!

[DarK_RaideR]

Threw my lot in the spreadsheet. Never knew I was doing so much bodyweight stuff, guess the gymnastics practice got to me.

 

Some more disclaimers:

 

- I know the point system is not ideal. 1RM is a lot harder than a zillion dumbbell curls or one push up, but bear with me. This is not a competition, it is still under development and the only equalizer I can think is having everyone make a Fitocracy account and use the points from there. Let's not get too technical and complicated

 

- I tried to link the characters to NF guilds and activity types. However, I am completely clueless when it comes to Monks and how their stuff could be measured. Open to suggestions and perhaps introducing a monk character as well

[SkiBlue]

- I tried to link the characters to NF guilds and activity types. However, I am completely clueless when it comes to Monks and how their stuff could be measured. Open to suggestions and perhaps introducing a monk character as well

 

Gimme twenty minutes, I can feel the creative juices movin'.

[Rurik Harrgath]

With regards to the story, are we writing our own narratives or sharing the characters and adding to the story previous to ours?

[DarK_RaideR]

With regards to the story, are we writing our own narratives or sharing the characters and adding to the story previous to ours?

The latter. It is meant to be a common story of the same characters. I set the framework of what's going on and what the options are, then we can all fill in the blanks inbetween

[SkiBlue]

OKAY. Twenty minutes are up.

 

From glancing through the Monk guild section of the forums, I think the best way to gauge progress with monk activities will involve some martial arts and subsequent (I've used this word three/four times today, I don't know why) training in that area (which is kind of obvious, but hey, sometimes over-thinking means you miss the easy solution). Which, in the case of a bar fight, would be perfect (depending on said monk's alignment)!

 

I'd be curious/interested to know how the Scouts would fit in as well. I'm having a serious scatter-brain issue at present, so I'm coming up with a blank on that front myself.

[Kareesh]

This looks great, DarK_RaideR. I probably won't participate, but I'll be following along.

[DarK_RaideR]

OKAY. Twenty minutes are up.

 

From glancing through the Monk guild section of the forums, I think the best way to gauge progress with monk activities will involve some martial arts and subsequent (I've used this word three/four times today, I don't know why) training in that area (which is kind of obvious, but hey, sometimes over-thinking means you miss the easy solution). Which, in the case of a bar fight, would be perfect (depending on said monk's alignment)!

 

I'd be curious/interested to know how the Scouts would fit in as well. I'm having a serious scatter-brain issue at present, so I'm coming up with a blank on that front myself.

I'm just curious to how martial arts training would fit into such a measuring scheme. Minutes of practice? Probably. Any Monks who stumble upon the thread, please offer your wisdom.

 

I thought about the Scouts as well, but they have an extra issue besides translating their work into points (time? mileage?). I can't really think of a "scout" character in such a setting. Same way I'd love to include a cleric or wizard but can't really think of how they can translate into something that can be performed measurably.

[SkiBlue]

I'm just curious to how martial arts training would fit into such a measuring scheme. Minutes of practice? Probably. Any Monks who stumble upon the thread, please offer your wisdom.

 

I thought about the Scouts as well, but they have an extra issue besides translating their work into points (time? mileage?). I can't really think of a "scout" character in such a setting. Same way I'd love to include a cleric or wizard but can't really think of how they can translate into something that can be performed measurably.

 

Yeah, measuring progress seems to be the limiting factor that I keep coming across. I'll keep simmering those thoughts though, as the solution should present itself in one form or another. And yes, what better way to figure it out then have our true Monks and Scouts weigh in!!

 

The tavern became a dance of chaos.

 

The Brobarian made easy work of most patrons that attempted to hit him. One such fellow, with blonde hair and a foot shorter than our hero, tried knocking him down by launching himself off the pillar by a side wall and landed squarely on the brute's chest. The Brobarian shoved him off, knocking him back into the wall, where he slid down into a pile of unconscious limbs.

 

The Ranger danced atop the still-standing tables, duel-wielding chair limbs. He was patient and calculated in his moves, easily anticipating each opponent by reading their eyes and muscle tensions. Where opponents would charge and feint, the Ranger expertly diverted their movements, causing them to rage in their turn around to come back for more. The leopard-lynx provided him support, tripping and biting those who didn't spare a moment to look down before charging.

 

From the bar, the Assassin sighed heavily. One of the Ranger's opponents flaided backwards in her direction. In one swift motion, she vaulted off her stool and onto the bar, barely distrupting the tankards lying about as the body crashed into it. After a pause, she picked up the tankards in turn and threw them in support of her brawling friends. One hit a man square in the forehead, knocking him in the opposite direction of his charge.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Meanwhile, the Bartender simply put up a slight barrier over the more expensive bottles and kept on about his work as though he had seen this all a thousand times before, which he had. He and the local woodsmith had figured out how to make tables and chairs that break apart in such a way that everything could be reassembled in about 45 minutes. The Assassin on the bar was something new. For his own amusement he started handing her tankards.

[Terinatum]

The tankards become projectiles as the Assassin takes requests from the bartender and the woodsman. "Who next?" She smiles broadly, a rare occasion, and aims the tankard at the lonely guy in the corner, trying to stay out of the fight. He is clearly upset, his red checks flaring every time something comes close. She takes special aim, having asked for a loaded tankard. With a mighty heave, she sends the projectile past heads and flying shards of wood and food. It lands neatly on the table where the lonely man sits. For a brief second, the man's eyes are surprised. And then promptly the blue of his eyes disappear as the tankard continues its forceful journey to the land square in the lonely man's chest, bursting its contents in a great spray of cheap ale.

 

 

PS Hi! A representation of Scout workouts could be as follows:

1 mile of biking = 1

1 minute of running = 1

1 lap of the pool = 1

 

As far as a fantasy character is concerned, it could be that Scouts are Rogues. Being quick and agile with plenty of energy to run from the law, using any mode of transportation available - even sailing someone else's boat.

[SkiBlue]

PS Hi! A representation of Scout workouts could be as follows:

1 mile of biking = 1

1 minute of running = 1

1 lap of the pool = 1

 

As far as a fantasy character is concerned, it could be that Scouts are Rogues. Being quick and agile with plenty of energy to run from the law, using any mode of transportation available - even sailing someone else's boat.

 

I like these ideas!

 

As for the Monks progression, the husband has suggested scoring points for things like eating "clean" or something similar and possibly meditation, not just martial arts training. Though, how those things play into a bar brawl, I'm not sure. Just thought I'd share those insights.

[Red1263]

... I'm totally following!

[skinNbones]

It was at this point that the Brobarians drink reappeared from under a table and ...

Speak softly and carry a beagle.

[DarK_RaideR]

Loving everyone's contributions!

 

PS Hi! A representation of Scout workouts could be as follows:

1 mile of biking = 1

1 minute of running = 1

1 lap of the pool = 1

 

As far as a fantasy character is concerned, it could be that Scouts are Rogues. Being quick and agile with plenty of energy to run from the law, using any mode of transportation available - even sailing someone else's boat.

The general concept is brobarian for lifting, druid for yoga&stretching, assassing for bodyweight and ranger for everything else as a catch-all class. I logged my running as ranger points, but we could agree to put that down in favor of the assassin.

 

Since every participant, regardless of guild, can aid more than one character with his/her exercise, I don't think there is a need to introduce a 'Scout' character, since that's covered by the assassin and ranger. Same thing with the adventurers, as a generalist guild I assume they're close to the ranger character.

 

I like these ideas!

 

As for the Monks progression, the husband has suggested scoring points for things like eating "clean" or something similar and possibly meditation, not just martial arts training. Though, how those things play into a bar brawl, I'm not sure. Just thought I'd share those insights.

Eating clean is something that concerns all members of the Rebellion, not just monks. I would think meditation should probably be logged as Druid points. The real question is monk training and activity: striking practice, sparring, grapple training, floor work, kata practice... should we put that down in favor of a new monk character and if yes, how? 1 point per 1 minute?

[Oramac]

Sweet!!  I'm not sure how much I'll participate here (a little bit, I'm sure), but I love the idea and definitely will be following along.  

 

As for a Monk, 1 point per minute would probably be the simplest measure of progress.  

[SkiBlue]

Eating clean is something that concerns all members of the Rebellion, not just monks. I would think meditation should probably be logged as Druid points. The real question is monk training and activity: striking practice, sparring, grapple training, floor work, kata practice... should we put that down in favor of a new monk character and if yes, how? 1 point per 1 minute?

 

True. Those suggestions were made on RPG class roles as opposed to Rebellion classes. Though I would argue that meditation counts equally for both, but that's just my opinion.

 

As for a Monk, 1 point per minute would probably be the simplest measure of progress.  

 

I would agree, 1 minute of practice activity sounds like it works the best for now. Glad to have some Monk input here!

[Raxie]

I logged my mobility work as Ranger work... that makes sense right?

[Oramac]

 Though I would argue that meditation counts equally for both, but that's just my opinion.

 

Leave it up to the player then.  Meditation can apply to the Monk or Druid as the player sees fit. (but not both)

[Raxie]

Leave it up to the player then.  Meditation can apply to the Monk or Druid as the player sees fit. (but not both)

 

I agree, whatever they feel their meditation contributed to... let that be it.

[DarK_RaideR]

I was about to say so, let's not be too strict about it all. Classes are there as general guidelines (and the ranger as a catch-all failsafe) so let's leave it to the players to decide where it would make sense for them to log everything.

Nope. No Captain Barbosa gif